r/AskAcademiaUK

I have received a PhD offer commencing February 2027, in geography/social economy. My stipend is stipulated as follows:

The studentship is worth a **minimum** of £26956.00 per year for a period of three years, subject to satisfactory progress. The studentship covers the payment of tuition fees (currently £17700.00 for international students) each year for three years. The remaining part of the studentship is given as an annual stipend of £9256.00 for international students for three years. This amounts to £771.33 a month. UK fee paying students have a lower tuition, and thus take home about £1500 per month.

I want to try to negotiate this based on the following reasons:

1. I know that international fee waivers are commonly used by universities to support graduate students, waiving the cost difference between international and domestic tuition.
2. It clearly states that £26k is the **minimum** stipend amount.
3. This only covers my rent and utility bills, leaving me stranded for food, emergencies, etc. I will likely have to find other paid work, this will constrain my ability to focus 100% on my research and avoid financial stress. Even just topping up my stipend to 1000£ a month would be more liveable. I would consider being a TA/RA as extra work but really would rather not have this added commitment.

How should I approach this with my supervisor/admissions? Has anyone negotiated something like this before? Should I bring up all of these reasons, or which one is the strongest?

Thanks in advance.

ETA: It’s NIHR funded, the overarching project got a 1.5£ million grant to fund multiple smaller studies as a framework of work packages. This PhD is fulfilling the aim of a work package. The larger project is headed by my PI.

ETA 2: This is the original advertisement wording: This studentship is worth at least £26,956 per year for three years (subject to progress). The studentship covers payment of tuition fees (£5,151 for Home/RUK students or £17,700 for EU/International students for 26/27) plus an **annual stipend of £21,805 for Home/RUK students** or an annual scholarship of £9,256 for EU/International students from October 2026.

So I’m on FindAPhD again and I don’t understand the purpose of advertising self funded projects. Is there some sort of quota that academics have to meet in terms of number of students or something? Do people really apply to these?

Hello everyone, I'm looking for ideas from fellow neurodivergent academics on what type of reasonable workplace adjustments have been most helpful to you for ADHD and/or autism?

I'm looking for job design ideas especially for R&T contracts, so things like teaching concentrated into as few days as possible, dedicated day(s) for research due to difficulty with switching tasks, new teaching & marking communicated a few weeks before the start of the semester, written processes for standard activities and/or checklist for roles such as being a course coordinator, clear communication on what action is expected of me in the various cryptic emails that have no context and no action, etc.. I have been in the job for a few years now but the the past two years my AuDHD got hugely dysregulated due to the insane workloads, staff losses, and pressures across the sector so I need some adjustments to make it more bearable but unsure what my options are to begin with since my institution has extremely poor resources on this front.

(I'm a lecturer on a R&T contract at a Scottish university. No official diagnosis but I have an occupational health report supporting the need for adjustments.)

I'm in Arts and Humanities with a Phd awarded in 2021. I haven't been able to secure a teaching post or postdoc funding since then.

Needless to say, there are NO jobs in my field at all! I thought I had secured an Associate Lecturer position for this academic year. I went through the application process and interview back in April successfully, only to be told last week that they don't have any hours to offer me this term. I remain in the pool, however, for like six months. IF any hours come up. Thanks for nothing.

So, how do people find hourly-paid posts? Many people list several Associate roles in their CVs. How?

Thanks in advance.

Evening everyone. I’ve recently noticed that there appears to be a lack of bridging grant finding available. Typically small seed funds exist throughout the year either within the institutions or some of the societies, and there are the big UKRI and similar for the large grants but where do we find though bridging grants to move from seed work to large grants.

Hi!

I wanted to ask if it is ok to give an email of a boss who is now retired and only has a personal gmail.

Is it necessary to give an email with professional domain?